Upstate Woman Pleads Guilty to Hydrocodone Conspiracy

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Precias K. Freeman., age 35, of Lyman, South Carolina, pled guilty today in federal court in Anderson, to a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute hydrocodone, a violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846.  United States District Judge Timothy M. Cain, of Anderson, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that beginning on October 2014 Freeman created fraudulent prescriptions and passed them in local pharmacies throughout the upstate of South Carolina.  The investigation revealed that Freeman usually tried to fill three prescriptions per day. Freeman's prescriptions were almost exclusively for 120 tablets of 10mg hydrocodone per prescription and were sold for $4 per pill. 

Ms. Drake stated the maximum penalty Freeman can receive is a fine of $1,000,000 and/or imprisonment for 20 years, plus a special assessment of $100.

The case was investigated by agents of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.

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